I've setup a new Starter Pack: Transport Writers of Bluesky. It's looking a bit sparse at the moment, so please suggest your favourite transport journalists, writers and creators to be added, or drop me a DM if you'd like me to add you to the pack 👇

Just a little bit of a distraction heading into the office this morning, thanks to this pair of Colas HSTs at Manchester Piccadilly.

Just terrible news coming out of Spain this morning. Thoughts with the victims and all of those affected.

This is just one of the many reasons I’ve now left Twitter. You should do the same.

Here it is - the brand new TV ad from Northern, launching today.

That's it! Twitter profile locked. 🔐 Not yet deleting my profile as I still need to dig out the odd historic tweet every now and then, but I'll only be posting on here from now on. It's a much nicer place to be 🙂

From today's Express: 'UK's underused train route takes you through 75 miles of jaw-dropping scenery for £4' 👇 'For the price of a coffee and croissant, you can swap city pavements for cliffs, beach walks and fish-and-chips on the promenade.' www.express.co.uk/travel/europ...

🐝 ONE YEAR TO GO. 🐝 Fantastic to celebrate one year until Northern customers in GM are part of the Bee Network today, alongside friends and colleagues including @andyburnham.bsky.social - and one special yellow train! Northern x Bee Network. Let’s do this 💪

Seems my earlier post about new GBR branding has whipped up the Farage supporters and Russian bots on the other hellsite. I thought they liked flags? 🇬🇧

Shiny new GBR-ness at Manchester Piccadilly.

🗺️ Rail maps have been in the news this week, so I thought I'd share a sneak preview of the project I'm currently working on.

Announcing ‘A Mainline Station Heritage Artefacts Collection’ I have been thinking *a lot* about heritage artefacts at mainline railway stations over the last few years. They are so important in telling the story of the railway station at which they are located (and quite often the history of the…

Fantastic to hear inspiring and uplifting presentations from @andyburnham.bsky.social & our very own Tricia Williams at Northern. Integration is happening. We’re not waiting for GBR to legislate - we’re working together to deliver for our customers, now.

🎄 Two of these five lovely towns to visit at Christmas by train feature Northern stations - Hexham and Knaresborough! Whilst Hexham is still on my 'to visit' list, I can personally vouch for beautiful Knaresborough (at any time of year). Brill piece in @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...

Copilot is undoubtedly the dumbest 'AI' I've ever encountered. That said, most Microsoft products these days are lowest common denominator junk, which is why I avoid like the plague.

On your marks…get set…race!

First time spotting Rail Clock in the flesh!

It’s ironic. The city that Donald Trump covets above all others, roundly despises his existence and kicks him squarely into the dirt at every opportunity. Congrats @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social!

There's a new timepiece in town! Rail Clock is a masterclass in meaningful simplicity. It's not every day the railway gets a new clock - this is something very special. I've penned a few quick thoughts about it for @transportdesigned.com: transportdesigned.com/theres-a-new...

On my way back north after attending the unveiling of the new rail clock at London Bridge; the timepiece is all at once disarmingly simple and delightfully ingenious…

Now appearing at stations all over the North - these lovely new leaflets promoting destinations across the network. Pick one up from a station near you!

⚡ 30.09.25 ⚡️

Now this is Content

I’ve lived with iOS26 for over a week now and can honestly say it’s just the absolute worst. How could Apple have shipped such utter crap? Steve Jobs would be spinning in his grave.

The inside track on the creation of the ever-so-pretty (and substantially more useful) new Northern network map. Fascinating stuff. Designers are so clever.

🗺️ A month or two ago, Northern quietly launched a new network map. It started out as my personal pet project, born out of an ever-so-slight frustration that the existing map didn't actually show you where trains went. Which is sort of...fundamental, really.

As cartography gaffes go, this is quite a big one... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

This must be relatively rare - don’t think I’ve ever seen an Avanti on P2 at Piccadilly before!

🤔 Well this is new… TPE and Northern working together to deliver for customers whilst Huddersfield station is closed as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade. It means a 6-car Class 185 to Brighouse for me this morning!

This is the kind of content I live for. And I genuinely had no idea that the quirky building in the middle of the roundabout outside Leeds bus station is a former filling station! www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Signed, sealed and delivered with a Routemaster. Would it really have been a Harrison wedding without a double decker bus?

the Guardian asked me to write about the Elizabeth Line! 193 comments in 90 minutes! that's gotta be good, right? right?

No prizes for guessing where I am today!

OK then, The Greatest Gathering...who's around tomorrow?

🚂 Head's up! Tickets will go on sale for the Heaton 150 open day at 1pm tomorrow - we expect they will sell out fast 👇 media.northernrailway.co.uk/news/tickets...

⛺️ An absolutely stunning little piece of PR courtesy of NS in the Netherlands: nltimes.nl/2025/07/30/n...

Couldn't agree more. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🚨 BIG NEWS - we're throwing open the doors to Northern's Heaton TrainCare Centre on 20 & 21 September! As part of #Railway200 and to celebrate 150 years of the historic depot, we'll be welcoming thousands of visitors to Heaton for a mega-rare look behind the scenes.

I drove a train today.* * OK, it wasn’t a real train. But it was about the closest thing you can get to a real train. This is the first of Northern’s incredible, state of the art, mind-blowingly realistic Class 195/331 simulators which are quite simply - a game changer.

🇮🇹 Centro Direzionale - Business District 🚉 For those that say a new metro station should be simple & austere… Naples new Line 1 station shows how it can be: Bright, colourful, bold platforms… …above ground a beautiful arched wooden structure. 🤩 Stunning. @garethdennis.bsky.social

"The only airport in the center of #Paris is a train station." I love this ad for the high-speed service from Switzerland to France. One of the hidden costs of air travel is the dreaded airport transfer... 🛫🚅🧵

Darlo train at Leeds! @lner.co.uk

I have an uncanny ability - which is to sniff out a vintage bus on any given day out. Nice to see this old girl at Bowland Brewery!

You can always rely on there being something of interest in York on any given day, but even I was surprised to find ROG’s 37884 ‘Cepheus’ purring away idly on P7 yesterday! Apparently a quick stopover en route from Derby to Doncaster…

What a fantastic day on the Northumberland Line! The sun has shone on Newsham as we celebrate the opening of the newest station on our network. Smiles all around!

Spotted from a train at Halifax - very impressed that Nestlé have turned this trailer sat in their yard into a giant tube of Rolos. But what is it transporting? Ginormous Rolos? Gallons of molten caramel? Filled to the brim with liquid milk chocolate? I need to know!

🗞️ So, a bit of personal news... 🚉 Super excited to share that after three years working on comms for The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), I'll very shortly be taking up a new role at Northern as Senior Media Relations Manager!

Pure poetry - MAGA buying Teslas to shore up their beloved billionaire's finances, simultaneously helping to reduce tailpipe carbon emissions whilst denying the existence of climate change. Silver linings, and all that.

These are getting better and better!

Pure desperation: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...